Please Toyota, just a little bit more.

I drive down the I95 corridor at least once a year from Maine to Florida and back. I've done extremely long driving stints in the Gen II Prius and now a couple of times in our Gen III. Thankfully, I found significant improvements from Gen II to Gen III in both comfort and roadability.

Our 2005 Gen II was directionally vague to the extent that it could be tiring to drive long distance. I changed out the very poor performing 15 inch Integrities at about 3 or 4 thousand miles, replacing with a 16 inch wheel (I noticed that the Japanese and Euro market Prii were getting a 16 inch wheel option) and a set of premium (back then) TripleTreds. This improved the Gen II's steering performance by leaps and bounds. Not perfect, but improved it a lot. Plus the 7 spoke wheel and it's flush fit with the body made the car look great!

Ergonomics and comfort were a very poor in the Gen II. After a few days with our first Prius, I was sent an email from Toyota asking for comment on this car. Comment I did. The 2005 interior felt to me like I was sitting on a chair in front of a desk that happened to have a steering wheel sticking out of it. I mentioned the difference in this Prius design and their own ergonomically brilliant '90s Supra driver's cockpit and wondered if they could not remember that fact. Also mentioned the total lack feel from the over boosted electric power steering and the car's inability to track down the road without constant correction.

Out comes the Gen III. Someone at Toyota was paying attention, at least partially! Better than not.

Loved the Gen III driver's compartment instantly. One of my coworkers bought the 2010 and allowed me to drive it. By the time I had set up the seat position, steering wheel, mirrors and had buckled in, I was sold. When I booted it up and pulled out out of the parking space I already new this car's more weighted steering was a quantum step improvement over my Gen II. That all happened withing the first 10 feet of the drive. I found that the 2010 Prius was actually enjoyable to drive!

The world economy tanked in this period, and Toyota and all other manufactures had to keep prices down. Interior materials suffered across the spectrum of entry level cars. Even the highly regarded Honda Civic had to go back for an early redo inside and out. The Prius is further burdened by the need to keep the car as light as possible so it can deliver on it's prime directive... very high MPG. In this regard, Prius is still genius. The HSD is an electromechanical work of art and is still leading edge in the industry.

We all wait for Toyota to give us soft touch dash and door materials. The current plastics are horribly susceptible too scratching and do nothing to mute noise. I just hope that in the next Gen Prius we don't lose the integrated console (bridge), a version of which you can now find in Porsche's incredible new and way improved Cayman. Go see it in person.

Subjective, there is a hybrid car out there already that will meet and exceed your BMW tastes... its called the Mondeo in Europe and it's the new Fusion here in the U.S. It's only rated 47 MPG, but it's a proper 4 door road worthy, well designed, very nicely trimmed (near luxury) sedan. Go try it out. The exterior and interior design are clean and modern. I like to see Ford trying this hard. It's working.

But... I'll stick with my low rent Prius. The leather seats are extremely comfortable and I try not to touch the plastics too much! This red Prius still averages 52.8 MPG in temperatures that have mostly ranged in the mid to upper 20s this month. And I still really like it's somewhat quirky aero friendly exterior. Plus it's not bad on long trips and I actually enjoyed driving this car. Still sold.

 

Well done! Good observations. From some of the badly offset steering wheels I've seen out there, C-Max and Camry Hybrid to name a couple, I don't trip on the Prius'. It is very slight.

But, you are so right about the chintzy amount of steering wheel telescope, even the tilt. The whole wheel is sort of cheapish. I'd like to see it slightly larger. Steering wheel needs to be a bit more vertical also. I don't see the point of a tilt towards the dash. The wheel says eco-box to me.

I'm ok with the mechanical seat, but could see how others might hate it.

Why not better handling / cornering ability? It could use it, and a few more ponies too.

 

I'm right there with ya on suggested improvements.

If you can, switch to a Camry hybrid - more power, 200 HP, drives much more like a normal sedan. Much more stable on highway. Corners better with ind. rear suspension.

steering wheel telescopes more than enough, but unfortunately, the steering wheel is offset to right a couple inches. I've written Toyota corporate on this and they called back.

Did I mention 41 MPG? It's either 8 gallons (Prius) or 10 gallons (Cam Hy) after 400 miles. In the higher mpg range, it's flatter part of the curve (gallons vs. mpgs).

 

3rd gen seat travel doesn't need to be longer. The steering wheel needs to telescopes closer to driver. I knew this in May 2009, as did Edmunds.com

What good is a driver's seat that slides inches back farther if you can't reach the steering wheel without stiff arming it?

 

2012 Toyota Prius

"There are downsides, however. Interior quality leaves much to be desired, with more hard, unpleasantly grained plastics than other brands offer. While the Prius is easy and intuitive to drive, there's zero enjoyment behind the wheel. Other hybrids (including the new Prius C) are better in this regard, while the more composed ride quality and quieter cabins of the Ford Fusion Hybrid and Toyota Camry Hybrid represent a much greater degree of refinement.

Sadly, taller drivers still have to contend with a steering wheel that's placed too far away. There's a telescoping column, but it doesn't come out nearly far enough. "

 

2012 Toyota Camry Hybrid Sedan LE Price With True Market Value^®

Click photos > video reviews. See the 2008 Prius vs 2008 Camry hybrid video from Edmunds. What's they said back then holds true today.

 

It seems that OP is not aware that BMW does make hybrids. The 5 series hybrid does cost 2.22 times a Camry XLE hybrid base price, the Camry is slightly a larger midsize sedan, and the BMW has only 10 cubic ft if trunk space. At these prices, they should have better seats.
Compare Side-by-Side

 

Toyota could do some parts better. But everything comes at the price. Price of materials and weight. Weight = higher consumption. I think that Prius somehow tests users ability to adapt but I like it. I don't touch plastics anyway. Seats are comfortable, parts within my reach are good quality.
I have a leather steering wheel so I can't tell anything bad about it. I like it's shape and short lock-to-lock turn range (17" wheels).
But back to topic. Prius should be compared to a class C compact cars. In this class it has very much room and quite ok boot space. If you want to compare to BMW you should take CT200h and compare it to... BMW 1 series.
Toyota could be compared to Citroen (4-series), Peugeot, VW (Golf / Jetta), Ford (Focus). That's where C-class Toyota belongs.

But anyway... enjoy the silence... and mpg ;-)

 

Hi. I feel happy to post on this as My last car was a 3 Series BMW with manual transmission. Different cars for different markets but
1. The seats could be better in the Gen III but they are better than those in my Gen II
2. Some softer plastics in some places, eg dash top and door cards would be nice
3. My Gen III has 17" wheels and Michelin Primacy tyres - tracks pretty well, not quite a driver's car like the 3 Series was
4. Road noise in the Prius should be reduced and there is too much noise from hard plastic surfaces interacting

The technology in the HSD drivetrain is fab' in the way it integrates the engine and motor(s). I also find the very complex braking system good. I think we should defend our Priuses but be open to constructive criticism. Dealing with the above by spending a further 500-1000$ on each car might be worthwhile for Toyota in terms of the improvement for customers.

 

I totally agree with point 4. Too much road noise from 17"-s for this type of car.
I don't care about dash top but agree that the plastics shouldn't make so much noise, esp. those on the dash and in boot. In winter days they are a bit annoying.

Seats are quite ok if looking from commuter perspective. They don't have any special side grip so driving on the curvy roads in not so pleasant but after 900km trip I still feel ok. Thing I can't tell about Alfa Romeo 159 and Toyota Auris.

I agree that we should be open for constructive criticism but in Poland adding 1000$ to (very high price of Prius) without any incentives from government means that choosing Prius instead of Avensis would mean return of investment after 250k miles :-(

 

I have owned two Volvos and a 3 series BMW, they all had very comfortable seats and good driving positions. But the car I owned that beat them all in that respect was a Honda Accord, I do not think a car needs to be expensive to get good seats and a good driving position. If Honda can do it I am sure Toyota could, I can't imagine why they don't?

One other thing that could easily be improved is the driver's door arm rest, it needs to be a little softer. It makes my elbow sore after 200 or 300 miles.

 

Noticed that door armrest is an inch too low also?

I don't even care about OEM look anymore. After a year, I just taped down a cheapo $1 piece of foam. Just about to try a $10 cheapo neoprene steering wheel cover to get away from the sandpaper basic steering wheel.

3rd Gen seat is really comfy and supportive (thighs), but the driving position screams budget. I would agree Honda generally does a better job on driving, controls position. I'm sure an Accord carves it up better than a Camry. But I will add the Accord has a little bit limited driver's seat travel which is weird because the guaranteed rear seat room is pretty huge. I would caution my 6'4" bro in law about seat travel if he tried out Accord sedan (long legs).

 

There's always Driving Gloves and elbow pads!!!